José Ramón Calvo-Ferrer jr.calvo@ua.es TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES TO DIGITAL NATIVES: IS TECHNOLOGY USE A PREDICTOR OF LEARNING SUCCESS AND STUDENT SATISFACTION? José Ramón Calvo-Ferrer jr.calvo@ua.es @calvoblacksmith

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ‘Digital natives’ (Prensky 2001): students with advanced cognitive and learning skills, parallel information processing, multitasking, and effective communication skills in collaborative environments. Traditional education perceived as ‘unattractive, boring, old-fashioned, disconnecting’ = school failure and dropout rates (Levin 2002; Prensky 2005). Two key aspects: Existence of a new generation of ‘tech-savvy’ students. Prolonged exposure to technology results in advanced cognitive skills. Need for structural changes in education (Tapscott 1998; Hartman 2005; Prensky 2005; Ramaley 2005; Akilli 2007; Tapscott 2009, etc)

BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY ‘Little critical scrutiny, undertheorised, and lack a sound empirical basis’ and `generational stereotyping’ (Bennett 2008). ‘Digital native’ debate based on economic factors (Bullen 2011). ‘Age not a defining factor’ regarding acquisition of technological skills (Akçayır et al., 2016, Jones and Cross, 2009; Rapetti and Marshall, 2010). Immersion in a digital environment “may be the most important variable in predicting the behaviours of a digital native” (Teo, 2013) Debate still present in education and media.

RESEARCH RQ: Assess the effect of self-reported digital nativeness on non-technology- related abilities (i.e., SLA) and on satisfaction with the educational system. Sample: 32 translation and interpreting undergrads (UA), aged 19 and 20. Materials: The Conference Interpreter video game, to train students in the acquisition of mobile operating systems terminology in English. Instruments: Knowledge test on mobile operating systems vocabulary given as pre-test, post- test and delayed test (sixty-three items, α = .84) Digital Native Assessment Scale (DNAS) questionnaire (Teo, 2013), given as a pre-test. 5-point Likert scale questions on satisfaction with the educational system. Procedure: Access to video game for 3 consecutive days, sessions of 2 hours each, totalling 6 hours of practice.

EFFECT OF SELF-REPORTED DIGITAL NATIVENESS ON SHORT-TERM VOCABULARY LEARNING Model Summaryb Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate Durbin-Watson 1 ,632 ,399 ,310 5,390 1,862 ANOVAa Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. 1 Regression 521,466 4 130,366 4,487 ,007 Residual 784,409 27 29,052   Total 1305,875 31 Coefficientsa Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig. B Std. Error Beta 1 (Constant) 36,574 5,919   6,179 ,000 Grow up with technology 3,311 1,123 ,523 2,948 ,007 Comfortable with multitasking -4,468 1,458 -,585 -3,064 ,005 Reliant on graphics for communication -,592 1,421 -,072 -,417 ,680 Thrive on instant gratifications and rewards 3,270 1,524 ,348 2,145 ,041

EFFECT OF SELF-REPORTED DIGITAL NATIVENESS ON LONG-TERM VOCABULARY LEARNING Model Summaryb Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate Durbin-Watson 1 ,581 ,337 ,239 6,301 2,127 ANOVAa Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. 1 Regression 545,659 4 136,415 3,436 ,021 Residual 1072,060 27 39,706   Total 1617,719 31 Coefficientsa Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig. B Std. Error Beta 1 (Constant) 38,154 6,920   5,514 ,000 Grow up with technology 3,571 1,313 ,507 2,720 ,011 Comfortable with multitasking -5,145 1,705 -,606 -3,018 ,005 Reliant on graphics for communication -,889 1,661 -,097 -,535 ,597 Thrive on instant gratifications and rewards 1,593 1,782 ,152 ,894 ,379

EFFECT OF SELF-REPORTED DIGITAL NATIVENESS ON STUDENTS’ VIEWS ON EDUCATION ANOVAa Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. 1 Regression 9,786 4 2,447 1,781 ,162b Residual 37,089 27 1,374   Total 46,875 31 a. Dependent Variable: I would like to use more technology in my classes b. Predictors: (Constant), Thrive on instant gratifications and rewards, Grow up with technology, Reliant on graphics for communication, Comfortable with multitasking ANOVAa Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. 1 Regression 7,250 4 1,812 1,580 ,208b Residual 30,969 27 1,147   Total 38,219 31 a. Dependent Variable: I find the current educational system boring and disengaging b. Predictors: (Constant), Thrive on instant gratifications and rewards, Grow up with technology, Reliant on graphics for communication, Comfortable with multitasking

CONCLUSIONS Mixed results: grow up with technology and instant feedback vs. multitasking. Different skills may have confronting effects on cognition. It may be inaccurate to include all computer-related literacies under the umbrella of digital nativeness. To analyse technological skills and their effects individually may help understand the cognitive processes and outcomes owing to technology use. The results seem to challenge the notion that students’ digital nativeness make structural changes in education necessary.

LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH Assumed correspondence between students’ perceptions of their digital self and actual skills. Method of instruction may have magnified differences between learning outcomes. It may be inaccurate to include all computer-related literacies under the umbrella of digital nativeness. The nature of the game limited the number of participants.

José Ramón Calvo-Ferrer jr.calvo@ua.es @calvoblacksmith QUESTIONS? José Ramón Calvo-Ferrer jr.calvo@ua.es @calvoblacksmith

José Ramón Calvo-Ferrer jr.calvo@ua.es @calvoblacksmith THANKS! José Ramón Calvo-Ferrer jr.calvo@ua.es @calvoblacksmith